The story continues

... for members of Burr House, anyway, at http://burrhouseblog.blogspot.com/

Well done

We are all now back in England. I'd just like to say what a pleasure the whole trip was - 14 enthusiastic rowers and coxes, inspiring Boat Club staff (Sally, Jason and Austen) and wonderfully generous hosts in San Francisco. I learnt a lot about rowing, determination and commitment, as well as having fun seeing new places and meeting new people.

I'm deeply priviliged to have been asked to go on the tour - huge thanks to all concerned.

Charly Lowndes

University of California, Santa Barbara

The UCSB crew had an injury, and were fortunate enough to pick up an international rower - Jack Thompson. Their result was creditable and they were full of praise for their number 2 - they said "it's all down to Jack that we did so well"

Last Day

Our last full day in the USA: the beach, surf boards, sea kayaking, sailing, the San Diego Zoo.

Return Flight

We've had a good rest today, with isolated outbreaks of academic work. We start the return journey tomorrow, and expect to be at London Heathrow, Terminal 3, landing at 1215 on Tuesday.

United Airlines' web page has a flight status link, go to Services and Information, enter date 4/7/2008 and flight number 948.

Full results of all three heats

Disappointment

Our time of 6 min 35.63 was not enough to beat the other crews - the heat was won in 6 min 09 by Newport, and our friends from St Ignatius came in third, but just failed to qualify for tomorrow's final. Shiplake were in the pack for much of the race and can be proud of the achievement in what is said to be the toughest heat.

Less than an hour

The crew are on the water. Those of us watching can only wait.

All preparations are complete.

The Finish Line

This is the place of dreams.

Pasta Party

Friday evening: pasta for several hundred in the big tent by the finish line. Ross McKellar got his entry stamp on his forehead, for luck.

Final preparations

The crew have now done their final water session before Saturday's race, with a good stretch on land. This evening, visualisation, pasta and sleep.

Mission Bay lake

We know the Thames is beautiful. So is Mission Bay :)

Supper by the lake

We had a barbecue by the lake - last red meat before the race. The last of the lighter fuel gave us a blaze to signal the end of the evening.

Sally visualises

What is life ... why are we here ? What does it all mean ?

Challenging moment

Alex Kolbl enjoyed his Thai curry. He enjoyed it so much that he asked for the hottest chile they had. They brought him some. Here, he desperately eats some rice to try to reduce the burning sensation.

Mission Bay: the coaches speak

The warmth of San Diego has brought out some fine technique amongst the Shiplake oarsmen whose bladework surpassed other crews from the USA, say Sally and Jason. The shocking conditions on the Thames this winter formed a good preparation for the seawater and choppy, windy conditions in Mission Bay.

The application of the crew to the task facing them on Saturay has been exemplary, said Jason - as has their application of suncream, added a slightly burnt Sally.

Austen Dorey was happy with the 60 hp launch hired for coaching, but has asked for the 70 hp for tomorrow Although the speed limit is 5 mph.

We are hugely grateful to Tom O'Connell, senior coach at St Ignatius, who not only lent us the eight, but also towed it all the way down to San Diego. It was a good moment to get it rigged and into the water. Launching here is a matter of walking out into the sea.

Safe in San Diego

The team is now in San Diego, ready to start final race preparations for Saturday's San Diego Crew Classic.
Our crew:
Bow - Charlie Ingham-Clark
2 - Jamie Albon
3 - Alexander Winslade
4 - James Briggs
5 - Ross McKellar
6 -Adam Middleton
7 - Jack Thompson
Stroke - James Hanson
Cox'n - Joseph Holmes

Subs - Alexander Kolbl, Jack Harvard-Taylor

Reserves - James Goddard,Toby Frossel, Freddie Hunting (Cox'n)

Live feeds of the races are available on http://www.crewclassic.org.

The schedule:

Mens Junior A William Robinson Memorial Cup

11:20

Newport AC

St. Ignatius

Shiplake

Lake Union

This is West Coast time, so 19:20 British Summer Time

Work, and work

Today included a chance to get some academic work done, with a morning set aside for revision. Many thanks to Nanette and Craig Gordon who have kept their doors open all week and provided a base for lifts to host families; and this morning their dining table was covered with books and laptops while Nanette provided bagels, toast, more bagels, scrambled eggs, coffee, more bagels...

The afternoon saw the final seat races and the boys have been told about the crew selection for the San Diego Crew Classic. A crew list will be posted to the blog shortly.

We ended the day with a great meal at Nick's Crispy Tacos on Polk and Broadway, and many thanks to Brit Hahn for feeding us all, and providing a chance to get the Shiplake and SI rowers together before we leave for San Diego in the morning. Shiplake will be training for the last time at Lake Merced at 0630 - and once again a million thanks to all the drivers for getting our team to the right places on time.

We very much hope to see SI families in San Diego, where we will be staying at the Days Inn, Mission Bay.